On  Friday, 5th October  we're hosting our latest CHFT Hot House event. (9.30 am to noon at the Learning Centre at HRI)

This time we're celebrating difference and  hoping for ideas from colleagues on how we can do create the right conditions to support a truly inclusive Trust.

Here, Suzanne Dunkley, our Head of Workforce and Development, explains more about what to expect on the day. 

What do we hope to achieve at this next Hot House event on Oct 5?  Overall we are aiming to create a culture of respect where differences are celebrated. We want to understand from colleagues what we can do create the right conditions to support a truly inclusive Trust. What we learn from colleagues on the day will help us refresh our Equality objectives and develop our Equality Diversity and Inclusion Strategy

What will the day involve? The day will include a series of sessions looking at four areas of Equality and Diversity – gender, sexual orientation, race and disability. There’ll be some facts and figures and some stories from some of our colleagues, including our CEX about their experiences but most of the day will be listening to how we can learn from colleagues about what we can do to celebrate our differences.

Do differences really create an issue for us in this day and age at work? They should create an enormous opportunity for us. Having staff at all levels from a wide range of backgrounds and skills can help develop a working environment producing ideas and solutions that might not come from a smaller array of diverse groups. A diverse workforce can also help us better understand and meet diverse patient expectations and ultimately improve the patient experience.

How have the previous Hot Houses been received? Turnout has been fantastic, and colleagues have really enjoyed creating the Trusts future workforce activities together. I hope that we have shown through the Hot House events that you can learn, create strategies and have fun all at the same time!

As our new-ish head of WOD, you’ve hoola-hooped. What next can we expect?  Dancing!. We’ve something special planned for  Strictly's ‘Blackpool week’

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This is the fourth in our series of Hot House events and feedback from the first three on recruitment, apprenticeships and health and wellbeing has been fantastic.

Everyone is invited to come along and share with us your thoughts. 

So  if you want to attend then email Tracy.Rushworth@cht.nhs.uk and she will send you a link to a  short video you need to see in advance.

Put it in your diary and join in on Friday 5 October (9:30 – 12)  in the Learning Centre at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary.